5 Clues in Marvel's 'The Defenders' Teaser with Explanations

Following Thursday’s panel for Marvel’s Luke Cage, a teaser for the quad-crossover series The Defenders premiered — and it’s the grungiest Marvel has ever gone.

Set to Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” (from 1992 album Nevermind), the trailer rips up newspaper strips form the word “DEFEND” in a clever montage that sums up all of Marvel’s Netflix shows, spanning Daredevil starring Charlie Cox, Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter, and the upcoming Luke Cage with Mike Colter, and Iron Fist with Finn Jones. The teaser ends with a premiere date: 2017.

Though it’s less than a minute, there are a few noteworthy tidbits. If you haven’t been keeping up on all the Marvel shows, you may be a little lost. Thankfully, we’re here to help you explain all the hints at what’s in store for what seems to be Marvel’s grungier superhero affair The Defenders, who differ from the pristine and chiseled Avengers.

5. Seems Alias Investigations has taken off.

At the end of Jessica Jones, Krysten Ritter’s Jessica officially starts up her freelance detective gig, Alias Investigations. With her defining presence in this teaser, it seems like business is booming.

4. Seagate Prison

Luke Cage was wrongfully imprisoned at Seagate Prison, a maximum security jail off the coast of Georgia. If you’re really deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll recognize it: It’s the prison Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin was sent to at the end of Iron Man 3, which was explored in the short film All Hail the King released on the Blu-ray of Thor: The Dark World. Seagate will play a much, much bigger role in the new Luke Cage series.

3. Just who is Danny Rand?

Danny Rand, the heir to the Rand Enterprises fortune, goes missing for years after the death of his parents in the remote mountains of K’un L’un. Monks take in Danny Rand, who train him to become the superhero Iron Fist. Danny returns to New York in his solo series Iron Fist before he teams up with Hell’s Kitchen brethren.

2. Stick is pretty pissed at them.

There’s one lone voice-over in the teaser: Scott Glenn’s Stick, the very un-Obi-Wan mentor of Matt Murdock from the past two seasons of Marvel’s Daredevil.

“You think the four of you can save New York?” he asks. “You can’t even save yourselves.” Much like the beginning of The Avengers, the Defenders will struggle to come together before they form as one unit.

1. The Hand is coming after them.

In very un-ambiguous fashion, it seems the Hand — the clan of terrorist ninjas (say it with me: comic books) that have terrorized Hell’s Kitchen in two seasons of Daredevil — appear to be the main antagonists of The Defenders. It makes sense: Only a well-trained army can stand a chance against Luke Cage (impenetrable skin), Jessica Jones (a hard-drinking muscle), Iron Fist (a magic kung-fu guy), and Daredevil (a parkour ninja). I don’t think New York has anything to worry about, except more property damage.

Marvel will premiere The Defenders on Netflix in 2017.